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Actually, I'd say three is too early. I've found a website that says today the sun will rise at 7.56 in London and set at 16.27, and that today is 2 minutes and 37 seconds longer than yesterday. In Glasgow (in Scotland) the sun will rise at 8.33 and set at 16.23. On this website you can change location, time and date, but for the UK, it only does the capitals. I can PM you the link if you want. The clocks change around end of October and the end of March. In summer it gets darker later, and as welshdevondragon says, Scotland stays lighter for longer than it does down south because it's so much furthur north.

Snow in Britain during winter is normal, yes? When does it usually start? (Late/early December? January?) Also, how cold does it need to be?

Well, it's becomming normal, and as welshdevondragon said, we've had (what we consider to be) deep snow for the past three years that seems to bring the country to a standstill because we're just not prepared for it. We had heavy snow before Christmas where I'm from in Somerset in the south-west, and the rubbish men only came last week for the first time since the snow. Things get really, really backed up.

However, when I was younger, I remember it snowing more. My birthday is in February and we always used to go out and build snowmen for it. The day my sister was born in 1994 it was snowing. But it was only a couple of inches, I'd say three at the most, and not all areas are affected by it at the same time.

As for when it starts, it seems to vary. As I've said, when I was younger it was late January/early Feb, but maybe because I remember it more because that's when my birthday is. This year the snow came early; we had it in Leeds at the end of November and again in Somerset in the middle of December. Last year most of the country had it from mid December, but the West Country from early January. It depends on where in the country you are, I think. But I'd say nowadays anywhere from late November to early Feb.

what scale do you use?

Officially we use Celcius, but a lot of people who are older use Farenheit because that's what they grew up with. I don't understand Farenheit, but my parents do.

How hot does it get in Summer? And What sort of heat?

Probably not what you Australians would call hot. Lower than thirty degrees Celcius, certainly, but a nice, warm summer's day would be around 26/27 degrees. And as for the type of heat, I'm really not sure. Normal heat? I don't think it's ever what you call humid, except for when there's a storm brewing. I think probably dry, but it's never really hot enough to be incredibly dry heat.

an example of the temperature and weather of a 'normal' Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring day?

Well, I don't think there's anything that's classed as 'normal summer's day' here The weather is unpredictable and it can be wonderfully sunny in the morning and cloudy and threatening to rain by the afternoon. Your best bet is to probably go to the Met Office website.

Another thing to add is that no matter what the time of year, it gets very cold at night. It could have been a scorching summer's day, but you'd need a cardigan or jumper on if you went outside at night.

It's not derogatory, but you might get English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish people getting annoyed at being lumped together in one term. Certainly I know a Scotsman who refuses to refer to himself as British because he wants Scotland to be fully independent.

I'm British generally - especially when the Olympics are on - but English when our cricket team play (and do very well in Australia )

You could possibly make a feature out of this ...

Regarding weather - it really does depend where you are. Generally the south of the UK is warmer and dryer than other parts of Britain.

Of course. I've worked in several both as a regular employee and as an agency carer. Anything you want to know, shoot me a PM.

Do people normally live in houses or flats?

It depends. If you want info about London, then I'd say that it varies with districts. The poorer ones or the ones nearer the city centre tend to be more flats than houses, but as you go out to the suburbs, it becomes more houses. Not to say exclusively, but generally more houses.

How many stories do most houses have?

It depends. If you asked a child to draw a picture of a house, the house would probably have two storyes, so you could say that the average house has two. But, it depends on the style of the building and it's age, and sort of the location. Quite a lot of Victorian town houses have more than two storeys; the one I live in now has three, plus a cellar, but several around here have four. My old house was one built around the turn of the century to accomodate factory workers in the cloth industry in Leeds, and so to pack more workers in (and then as time wore on, more students!), the house had three storyes and a basement. I think more modern, stylishly designed houses can have more, and so do quite a lot of old farmhouses. It would depend on where the character was living and what sort of house she had. But I would say that the bog-standard house has two storeys.

London has lots of residential areas. And the shops generally all have flats above them, unless you're talking Harrods or the big department stores.

Old houses especially in the richer areas of London have 3-4 storeys. Then there are pre second world war developments (and the ones just after the war) that have two storeys - 2 up. 2 down they were claaed (that's 2 rooms upstairs, and 2 downstairs - plus bathrooms).

Houses are pretty much the same as Sarah described in Leeds, although in London we do have (or used to) a lot of high rise blocks of flats that used to house council tenants - a lot of them have been pulled down though.

Can you explain which era this is and how wealthy your characters are?

What sort of residential area would you like? Near some greenery, or in a big concrete landscape?

This is Marauder Era. The characters I'm trying to give a house are Lily Evans' grandparents, who are middle-class. I'd prefer to have them living in a greener area.

I'm just trying to get my head around what their kind of neighbourhood would look like, for descriptive purposes, I guess.

~Midnight Storm

Maternal or paternal grandparents? Possibly a daft question, but Evans is one of the top ten most common surnames in the UK. Itís originally Welsh and is very common in the Home Counties, Wales, and the Welsh Borders.

Personally, Iíd put them in Wales. I suggest Caerphilly, itís not far from the English border or Cardiff and like all small towns it has its good and bad areas. The town centre is fairly small (though the castle is enormous). I suggest that you choose a town, google it, and check the place out on streetview. It makes research easy.

Of course, things have moved on since the 1970's but if you choose a small town the changes won't be huge.

I'd agree on Welsh, partly because if you look at the description in The Princes tale of the area where Lily lives, there's an industrial landscape which suggests mining or milling. Evans is a Welsh name, as Neil says.

If you still want London, then try the south-west London areas of Greater London/Surrey like Wimbledon, Richmond, Kingston-on-Thames, Putney. Some houses are three-four storeys. (Not mine unfortunately )

Poms Can't Stop Huss

It's pretty sad how the last, like, five questions have been from me. Anyhoo, I have a new one.

So, I was wondering if the word 'pom' is derogatory. I always assumed it was, so I refrained from saying it around any British people.BUT THEN...
Front page of the 'Sport' today: 'POMS CAN'T STOP HUSS'

I know less than nothing about the cricket. Quite honestly, I don't know who's winning. I think 'Huss' is 'Matthew Hussy' or someone. So, yeah, I'm not trying to start a Eng/Aus fight about who the better Ashes (or whatever it's called) team is.

/ramble

Anyway, the point is: is it non-derogatory, or are the journalists simply politically-incorrect people? It's your call.

Thanks

Oh, and just so we're clear, 'pom' is Aussie slang for 'English person'. If none of you have even heard of the word... well, I've just made an idiot of myself, haven't I?

Yeah, I'll just shut up now.

EDIT: My brother (Scarlet Steam Engine on here) has informed me of a few things.
A) My 'Matthew Hussy' is in fact 'Michael Hussey'
B) The Ashes finished "ages ago", and it's now the 20/20 season (??)

The Ashes didn't finish ages ago - Us Poms are still reliving ever ball and we're ignoring the twenty/20.

Okay, the word Pom is a nickname. It's not particularly derogatory, but I guess any nickname can turn into an insult. Pom came about because the UK sailors used to carry a lot of pomegranates in their cargo and eat them to ward off scurvey (a disease caused by Vitamin C deficiency) For the same reason the American't used to call us 'limeys' because we had limes on the ships.

We're not going to get annoyed with the term - although occasionally when it's coupled with the word 'whinging' then it's grating. (We probably deserve to be called whinging poms at times)